Rajbanshi language (Nepal)
| Rajbanshi | |
|---|---|
| राजबंशी, ताजपुरीया | |
| Native to | Nepal |
| Region | Jhapa District, Morang District |
| Ethnicity | Rajbanshi |
Native speakers | 170,000 (2011)[1] |
| Devanagari and Bengali–Assamese Script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:rjs – Rajbanshikyv – Kayort |
| Glottolog | rajb1243 Rajbanshikayo1247 Kayort |
Rajbanshi (also called Tajpuria[3]) is a Bengali-Assamese language spoken in Nepal. It is related to, but distinct from Rangpuri/Kamta in Bangladesh and India, which is also known by the alternative name "Rajbanshi", with which it forms the KRNB cluster.[4]
Phonology
This section is based on Wilde 2008.
Consonants
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | voiceless | p | t̪ | ʈ | k | ||
| aspirated | pʰ | t̪ʰ | ʈʰ | kʰ | |||
| voiced | b | d̪ | ɖ | ɡ | |||
| breathy | bʱ | d̪ʱ | ɖʱ | ɡʱ | |||
| Affricate | voiceless | ts | |||||
| aspirated | tsʰ | ||||||
| voiced | dz | ||||||
| breathy | dzʱ | ||||||
| Fricative | s | (ʃ) | h | ||||
| Nasal | plain | m | n̪ | ŋ | |||
| breathy | mʱ | n̪ʱ | ŋʱ | ||||
| Trill | plain | r | |||||
| breathy | rʱ | ||||||
| Approximant | lateral | l | |||||
| lateral br. | lʱ | ||||||
| central | (w) | (j) | |||||
- /ts, tsʰ, dz, dzʱ/ can often be heard as post-alveolar [tʃ, tʃʰ, dʒ, dʒʱ], when following back vowels.
- /r/ and /rʱ/ can have allophones of [ɽ ɾ] and [ɽʱ ɾʱ].
- /b/ can have allophones of [β w].
- /pʰ/ can also be realised as [f].
- /s/ can also have an allophone of [ʃ].
- /h/ can be realised as voiceless or voiced [ɦ] in word-initial positions.
- /n̪/ can be heard as alveolar [n] before an alveolar consonant, and as a retroflex [ɳ] when preceding a retroflex consonant.
- A word-final /r/ may tend to be voiceless [r̥].
- Central approximants [w j] occur, but are deemed allophones of /u i/.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | ||
| Mid | e | ʌ | o | |
| Low | æ | (ɐ) | ||
In addition to these vowels, Rangpuri has the following diphthongs: /ie, iæ, iu, iʌ, ui, uæ, uʌ, ei, eu, æi, æu, ʌi, ʌu/.
- Vowels /i, e/ can have shortened allophones of [ɪ, ɛ].
- /æ/ can also be articulated more central as [ɐ, ä].
- /ʌ/ may also be heard as two sounds [ɜ, ə] in free variation.[5]
Morphology
One notable characteristic of Rājbanshi is the double agreement found regularly in verbs. Having this pattern also means that Rājbanshi, along with regional Indo-Aryan languages of Southern Nepal-Bihar-Jharkhand where multiple agreement is attested such as in Maithili, Kurmali, Majhi, and Darai share a verbal system that is distinct from the rest of the mainstream Indo-Aryan languages.
kalʰi
tomorrow
di-m-(k)u-n
give-FUT-2SG.OBJ-1SG.SUBJ
'I will give (it) to you tomorrow.'
Notes
- ^ Rajbanshi at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
Kayort at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
- ^ a b Toulmin, Mathew W S (2006). Reconstructing linguistic history in a dialect continuum: The Kamta, Rajbanshi, and Northern Deshi Bangla subgroup of Indo-Aryan (PhD). The Australian National University. p. 305.
- ^ Toulmin 2009, p. 16.
- ^ Toulmin 2009, p. 3.
- ^ Wilde 2008, p. .
References
- Toulmin, Mathew W. S. (2009). From linguistic to sociolinguistic reconstruction: the Kamta historical subgroup of Indo-Aryan (PDF). Pacific Linguistics 604. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University. doi:10.15144/PL-604 (inactive 12 July 2025). hdl:1885/146752. ISBN 978-0-85883-604-4.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link) - Wilde, Christopher P. (2008). A Sketch of the Phonology and Grammar of Rājbanshi (Ph.D. thesis). University of Helsinki. hdl:10138/19290.
